RCMP at the scene where Angus Mitchell was shot on 216th Street near 132 Avenue in Maple Ridge B.C., May 30, 2012.Arlen Redekop
/ PNG

RCMP Insp. Tim Shields holds up photos of Angus David Mitchell during a news conference in Burnaby, B.C. Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Mitchell is wanted for attempted murder and is considered armed and extremely dangerous.Jonathan Hayward
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

RCMP Insp. Tim Shields and Sgt. Jennifer Pound hold up photos of Angus David Mitchell during a news conference in Burnaby Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Mitchell is wanted for attempted murder and is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Sgt. Pound also holds photos of the type of weapon and vehicle that may be used by Mitchell.Jonathan Hayward
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

RCMP Insp. Tim Shields holds up photos of Angus David Mitchell during a news conference in Burnaby, B.C. Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Mitchell is wanted for attempted murder and is considered armed and extremely dangerous.Jonathan Hayward
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

Sgt. Jennifer Pound hold up photos of the vehicle and rifle during a news conference in Burnaby, B.C. Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Angus David Mitchell is wanted for attempted murder and is considered armed and extremely dangerous.Jonathan Hayward
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

RCMP at the scene where Angus Mitchell was shot on 216th Street near 132 Avenue in Maple Ridge B.C., May 30, 2012.Arlen Redekop
/ PNG

Angus David Mitchell is wanted by police in connection with a double homicide in Burnaby. He is believed to be armed and dangerous.Screengrab
/ Facebook

Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Vancouver Sun
/ RCMP handout

The 1994 green Ford Aerostar van with BC licence 591PTG belonging to Angus David Mitchell. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Vancouver Sun
/ RCMP handout

Angus David Mitchell is believed to be in possession of a Mossberg rifle simlar to the one pictured.Screengrab
/ GI

Police canvass the area of 4400 Gilpin Crescent in Burnaby where a man was shot on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. Angus Mitchell, a suspect in the shooting, was later shot and killed by police.Glenn Baglo
/ PNG

Neighbour Howard Wong describes the sounds of shots fired in front of a victim's home on Gilpin ave in Burnaby following a shooting spree by alleged killer Angus Mitchell in Burnaby, B.C., May 30, 2012.Arlen Redekop
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The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Sushi restaurant owner Huong (Andy) Tran and a woman police are not yet identifying were found shortly after 9:30 p.m. Sunday inside Tran's Royal Oak Sushi House restaurant in Burnaby. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Vancouver Sun
/ screen grab

The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, speaks to media during a homicide investigation at a sushi restaurant in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, May 28, 2012, after a man and woman were found shot dead in the restaurant late Sunday night. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/

RCMP investigators re-enter a sushi restaurant during a homicide investigation in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, May 28, 2012, after a man and woman were found shot dead in the restaurant late Sunday night. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Darryl Dyck
/ CP

An RCMP officer speaks on a phone outside a sushi restaurant during a homicide investigation in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, May 28, 2012, after a man and woman were found shot dead in the restaurant late Sunday night. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/

RCMP officers talk outside a sushi restaurant during a homicide investigation in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, May 28, 2012, after a man and woman were found shot dead in the restaurant late Sunday night.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/

The 6500 block of Royal Oak is behind yellow police tap after two bodies were found at a local business in Burnaby on May 28, 2012.Wayne Leidenfrost
/ PNG

An RCMP officer stands outside a sushi restaurant during a homicide investigation in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday, May 28, 2012, after a man and woman were found shot dead in the restaurant late Sunday night. Burnaby RCMP are searching for 26-year-old Angus David Mitchell who is a person of interest in the sushi restaurant double-murder and who is accused of shooting his landlord in Burnaby.Darryl Dyck
/ THE CANADIAN PRESS/

Related

METRO VANCOUVER - There were signs last summer that former security guard Angus Mitchell, who died in a shootout with police Wednesday, was unstable and aggressive, a former co-worker says.

Mitchell was working at the time for Genesis Security in Vancouver, but exploded at former colleague Nikan Kaviani in an unprovoked attack.

“He gave me a ferocious look,” Kaviani said. “This guy had murderous intent. You could see it in his eyes.”

His former co-workers at Genesis were all in contact Wednesday after learning that Mitchell was a suspect in three shootings, two of them fatal, and had died in a confrontation with police.

“It is actually shocking,” Kaviani said. “But we did say at one point ‘I wonder if he’ll go Columbine?’”

RCMP said Wednesday morning that Mitchell, the target of a police manhunt, was “emotionally unstable and unpredictable.” That appears to be bolstered by a volatile posting he left on Facebook, ranting against a former boss at another security company.

Mitchell, 26, parked his older-model van along an isolated gravel road in a rural section of Maple Ridge sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday while police frantically searched for him in connection with three shootings in just 48 hours.

But in this age of instant news online, it was just an hour after the RCMP’s unusual public appeal to watch out for Mitchell that someone in Maple Ridge called 911 to report seeing the suspect’s van on 216 St., just north of 132 Ave.

Police officers descended on the country road Wednesday morning, using megaphones to coax the former security guard — who was armed with a rifle — out of the van. There was an exchange of gunfire and Mitchell was hit, but no officers were injured.

Anona Holgate was on her Maple Ridge horse farm, a short distance from where Mitchell’s van was found, when she heard the sound of a helicopter flying very low just before noon Wednesday.

“I could hear the chopper first. The dishes were rattling, and it was loud and low. I thought I could hear a shot,” she said in an interview outside her home.

“Then there were, maybe, three separate shots, and then a whole bunch of shots at once — maybe eight in a row.”

Mitchell was pronounced dead at 1:23 p.m. in hospital.

Mitchell has “come up on police radar in the past,” RCMP said, but he has not been charged with anything.

However, police described him Wednesday as “a person of interest” in a double homicide inside Tran’s Royal Oak Sushi House in Burnaby at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Owner Huong (Andy) Tran and a female employee were killed; neither were known to police.

Less than 48 hours later, the suspect’s former landlord was shot in front of his house late Tuesday afternoon on Gilpin Crescent in Burnaby. The injured man had rented another property, in Vancouver, to Mitchell in the past.

Police said Mitchell was wanted in connection with the attempted murder of the 51-year-old, who survived the shooting but is in hospital in serious condition.

Howard Wong was trimming his trees at his house on Gilpin Crescent when his neighbour was shot.

“I heard two sounds, like ‘bang, bang.’ Two big noises,” he said.

He at first assumed the noise was a car backfiring, but then his wife leaned out the window to say their neighbour was yelling for help in his front yard. Brenda Wong called 911, while her husband ran across the road.

“I saw the guy lying down under the tree there. I came over there and said, ‘You got hurt?’ He said, ‘Somebody shot me. A double shot,’” said Howard Wong, who did not see anyone running or driving away from his neighbour’s house after the shooting.

He said his neighbour — a Mandarin-speaking man who lives with his family in the house — was covered in blood.

The crime spree raised RCMP concerns about anyone who had had a personal conflict with Mitchell in the past — they feared he might have been targeting those with whom he had a grudge.

On his Facebook page, Mitchell posted a rant May 4 about colleagues at Victoria-based Themis Security Services, calling one an “insignificant lowly little punk who masquerades as a successful person.”

He went on to write that the person, whom he identified as “Mirko,” did not deserve his attention and ended the rant with “f--- you bastard.”

Mirko Filipovic, CEO and president of Themis, said Mitchell worked for his company as a contractor about three times, with the most recent job about four weeks ago.

“We’ve been told we should take certain safety and security precautions for ourselves and our family,” he said Wednesday morning as he set out to meet with Victoria police.

After searching for Mitchell overnight Tuesday, police issued an urgent alert at 9 a.m. Wednesday, saying anyone who has had a dispute with the suspect needed to be “extremely cautious about their personal safety,” including former co-workers, employers, landlords and roommates.

Insp. Tim Shields said Mitchell was believed to be armed with a rifle with a scope. Mitchell was the legal owner of the hunting rifle and it appeared to have been purchased in B.C. within the last six months.

RCMP issued photos of Mitchell, a gun similar to his, and a green 1994 Ford Aerostar van like the one he was driving and presumably hiding out in. Shields warned the public not to approach him if he was spotted and instead call 911.

An hour after the RCMP alert was issued, a citizen phoned 911 at 10 a.m. to say a green van was parked on the rural Maple Ridge road.

“We are extremely grateful for the very quick work from the media and for the watchful eyes of the public,” Shields said.

About a dozen local RCMP officers set up surveillance on the van with Mitchell inside, and called in at least 10 emergency task force officers, a dog unit and the RCMP helicopter for backup, said Ridge Meadows RCMP Supt. Dave Walsh.

In a period of five to 10 minutes, police tried to speak to Mitchell using megaphones and he did get out of the van.

“He did not try to run from police. He engaged towards police with a weapon,” Walsh said.

“In the process, shots were fired between the suspect and Lower Mainland emergency response team members.”

Walsh would not say how many times Mitchell was shot in the incident, which is now under investigation by Vancouver police.

“Clearly these situations are tragic. Nobody in law enforcement likes to see this type of situation end up in gunfire.... [This is] not the resolution we were looking for.”

IHIT spokeswoman Sgt. Jennifer Pound said it was too early to say if Mitchell’s rifle was the weapon used in Tuesday’s shooting.

The man injured was shot at close range, rather than from a distance, she said.

Kaviani, the former co-worker at Genesis security, said he had worked with Mitchell performing security at the Vancouver Jazz festival concert at David Lam Park last summer, but Mitchell exploded when Kaviani said they were supposed to rotate positions.

“He screamed, ‘What do you want?’ when I approached him,” Kaviani recalled. “He was really angry.”

He said when he touched Mitchell’s arm to get his attention, “he hit my hand really hard. He wanted to start something.”

Kaviani, who is now studying and in the military, said he reported the incident to the supervisor. Within a few weeks, Mitchell was fired.

“He said things like, ‘Why can’t you just treat me like a human being?’” Kaviani said. “He was clenching his teeth over nothing.”

Until recently, Mitchell had also worked as a part-time security guard at Royal Victoria Security in Victoria. Operations manager Ken Hunt said Mitchell did about 10 shifts over a period of three months, mostly guarding empty properties.

Hunt said he didn’t really get to know Mitchell, but was “shocked and surprised” when he heard news of the shootings.

Mitchell’s former boss at Themis security said he had not read the comments on Facebook and was not aware of any issue between Mitchell and the company.

“We’re kind of surprised and caught off-guard by the whole thing,” Filipovic said.

Residents on Vancouver Island were also warned about the accused shooter on Wednesday.

Const. Mike Russell of the Victoria Police Department said Mitchell used to live on Vancouver Island, and that officers were warning “several” people about him.

“We’re looking at anybody that may have had conflict with this man and just assisting them in any way that we can,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Maple Ridge, Craig Marquis was at the horse supply store he owns with his girlfriend, Jessica Fergusson, Wednesday morning when he heard the gunshots and a call over the radio in a police car, “Shots fired! Suspect down!”

Fergusson was at the Maple Ridge Equestrian Centre across the road, and phoned her boyfriend to say the air ambulance helicopter was landing in an open area there.

Marquis said his girlfriend saw Mitchell taken out of a road ambulance on a stretcher, and saw paramedics performing chest compressions on him as he was then loaded onto the helicopter.

It was a high-profile event on a normally quiet road. “That is [usually] a good place to park your van and go asleep,” Marquis said.

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